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Ben
Fellow ridiculous historians, we are returning with a dope beat for you to step to step two. Step two.
Noel
Step two. Yeah, for sure.
Ben
We are returning with part two of History's Weirdest Flexes. And guys, we had such a great time on this one with our pals Jack and Miles from the Daily Zeitgeist.
Noel
You're certainly familiar with the phrase weird flex, but okay. And we go deep down the historical rabbit hole of weird flexes. You enjoyed part one, now dive right on into part two.
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Ben
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. And we're back. Thanks for tuning in. Welcome to part two of Weird Historical Flexes. Or as we have come to find, perhaps cruel historical flexes. I'm Ben.
Noel
I am Noel.
Ben
And that's our super producer, Casey Pegram, who to our knowledge has never eaten 20 tortoises. We are not venturing into this alone, listeners. You recall from our previous episode, we had two of our favorite fellow podcasters on and they decided to be kind enough to return for the second part of this show. Let's welcome the Daily Zeitgeist, Miles and Jack back on the air.
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Woohoo.
Noel
Hey.
Jack
Whoa. Thanks for having us.
Noel
Truth be told, they didn't really return so much as just stayed in the same place and we, you know, the, the. Through the magic of podcast, we didn't
Miles
have to go for a whole week. I'm so thirsty.
Jack
Yeah, we just sat in our seats on pause.
Noel
Doesn't. Doesn't Robert Evans have some like Mountain Dew that you guys could Doritos could have?
Ben
Yeah.
Jack
Oh no. If we touch his Mountain Dew, we are in like, we will actually be in harm's way.
Ben
Okay.
Jack
Sometimes don't touch. We don't touch Evans's do. Yeah.
Ben
Sometimes he sends me Evans out of context text about that and he's like, don't touch my Mountain Dew. And I didn't know, I didn't know the number at first. So I was very confused.
Jack
No. One time I was driving with him and we saw a person at a bus stop drinking a Mountain Dew and he, he's like, roll down your window. Roll down your window. And he stuck his head on goes, that's mine. And the person was so confused and took it from him and drove off. So that's what we're talking about when we talk to talk about Robert Evans. What do you call that? His do privilege.
Miles
Do.
Jack
Yeah.
Miles
Do mania.
Jack
Do mania. Whatever you want to call it. He.
Miles
Yeah. Whenever you're driving him somewhere, he never tells you when to stop, he just rolls out of the car. Yeah, that's very.
Noel
And like that, he's gone.
Jack
It's crazy.
Noel
It's funny that we're talking about over
Miles
and there's a open, flapping door that's.
Noel
That's really dangerous for you and very disrespectful to your vehicle. Dangerous for the vehicle. Robert is an interesting character, but speaking of sugary beverages, I'm going to do a sugary, weird flex, okay? So when Ben first hipped me to this, it was described in the article that I read in a list on io9 as displays of opulence in the UK during the 1700s. Being piles of sugar just laying around
Ben
the house, like Tony Montagna style. Like Tony.
Noel
Like Scarface style. Just like, say, hey, check out my sugar. This is how much money I have. Because I'm showing you, because I have piles of sugar all over the house. And we think of that in terms of today, that just means you're keeping a very messy kitchen. But this was on display. But as it turns out, it wasn't just piles of sugar, or it may have been at first, but it actually evolved into these really ostentatious sugar sculptures.
Ben
Sweet.
Jack
Get it?
Noel
I do, Ben. I do get it. And I said 1700s, and I actually meant 1600s. But what's a hundred? You know, what's that between friends?
Ben
Drops in the bucket, man. Grains of sugar.
Noel
Drops in the bucket. So here's the thing. Decorative sugar was achieved by using things like gum, and then it was mixed into this kind of paste that you could sculpt into these figures. And whether they were large sculptures that would be on display constantly, or whether they were these kind of small, little hardened, sugary baked confections that could then be eaten. And the most bizarre part of this to me is the fact that they were called subtleties. And they're not subtle at all, right? A flex isn't meant to be subtle. A flex is a flex because it's in your face. And, like, check out this weird thing that I'm doing. Remark upon my wealth. But they were called subtleties. And the smaller forms of them that were these little creatures would be formed into things like buildings or animals, and they were meant to be admired before they were eaten.
Ben
So they were eaten.
Noel
They were eaten. But here's the thing. It was all in the king class, the nobles, knights, and clergy, and you had to have a whole lot of expendable sugar to make these things to be able to spare enough to actually kind of like, sacrifice Them for these kind of weird little flexes or giant flexes, the case might be. And it was kind of this display of craftsmanship and also culinary skills. But a lot of them actually were satirical symbols or they had messages that were conveyed to the guests. And Henry V, when he received his coronation ceremony, he did that very thing. They were symbols that kind of confirmed his privilege as the. Basically a godlike power as the king, and also knights rights. And it also highlighted the. This. This whole concept that you could. It was almost this nihilistic idea that you could take something that was artisanally created and that was meant to be beautiful, and you could remark on it and then, you know, admire it, then devour it, as very similar to your turtle story, Jack, where it's like, okay, we're going to, like, note, you know, Darwin's going to make notes about how rare and beautiful these creatures are and how we should, you know, take care of them. And then I'm going to eat it just to show that I am the master of my own destiny and that no one is above me. So that is totally what happened here. And then here's the thing. Over time, it became less of a completely upper class thing because sugar became less expensive. And it was something that, you know, lower class people could afford, too. But. Have you guys ever heard of the artist Kara Walker?
Ben
Yes, actually. But I'm the worst person to ask.
Noel
You are the worst person now. You're the best person to ask me. So Kara Walker is a New York City artist who does. You may have seen some of her work.
Jack
They are silhouette stuff.
Noel
Silhouette stuff, Exactly. And they're depicting antebellum culture and just the brutality of rac. They're simultaneously kind of grotesque and they're beautiful. And they're also kind of darkly comic where there are these kind of shadow figures in profile doing all these various things that would have happened during those times. She did an art installation in New York City, in Brooklyn, actually, at the former site of the Domino Sugar factory. And it was called a subtlety. And it was a giant sphinx that was 35ft tall and was created with just tons of this sugar paste and was molded into a massive sphinx like sculpture with the face akin to kind of the really, really stereotypical image of, like, Aunt Jemima or, like, the mammy kind of trope.
Ben
Yeah, the racist trope.
Noel
Yes, utterly racist. And with kind of like a bandana on. And then throughout the factory are all of these kind of, like, hidden messages talking about how black people were sort of commodified to cut cane and to participate in the sugar trade and all of that. So it's sort of taking this, like, old, kind of forgotten, weird flex. The subtleties, which, again, since sugar was so rare, it was saying, like, hey, I've got so much money that I can take my expensive sugar and make it into these, like, frivolous things that are then devoured by my guests.
Ben
And this was 2014. When she did this.
Noel
This was 2014 exactly. And I think it's not there anymore, but it attracted about 4,000 viewers when it first went on display. And it was a very popular exhibition for quite some time. But. Yeah. What do you guys think about that? There's a lot to unpack there.
Jack
Yeah, just piles of sugar just make me nervous. As someone who grew up in California, where ants appear out of nowhere, and I was always raised to, like, even rinse out cans or juice boxes because ant would show up. And I was. Caused a lot of anxiety. But also. But also hearing about the Kara Walker piece is good too, you know, because reminding people that, yes, you may have these opulent displays in your homes, but at what cost? Who are the people whose blood was spilled to even get these things to your house? But yeah, I think just like, you know, piling stuff up is. I've got to say, I'm not as impressed. You know, just a pile of a thing, you know, like gold statues or like gold piles, sugar piles, sugar statues. I mean, I think we could go a little bit further than that. But, you know, it's.
Noel
I'll.
Jack
I'll rate that. I'll give it a solid five on the flex chart.
Ben
Out of. Out of ten.
Jack
Yeah, yeah, that's a five out of ten.
Miles
That's a five out of ten for me, dude. Yeah. Do we think that they called them, like, was this around the time that sarcasm was invented? Because the calling them subtleties is like. So that sounds like the sort of thing that would be invented when someone was like, wow, that's subtle. Yeah.
Jack
I think almost even naming it a subtlety, that's actually the flex.
Ben
That's the flex.
Jack
Yeah.
Noel
That's a really, really good point.
Jack
You really go, oh, that, that, that bit of subtlety there.
Noel
I also, I also love. I love the notion of this idea of the invention of sarcasm. I think that's just like that all of a sudden, it just, you know, poofed into existence. People were like smart asses just overnight. I think that's fantastic. But no, yeah, I completely agree. It is utterly snark to call these things subtlety. And even more leaning in to that opulent display. It's like, oh, it's no big deal. It's nothing. You know, it's just, you know, my opulence and absurd obscene wealth and terribly
Ben
cruel because we have to also remember to your point, Miles, especially at that time in the age of the subtleties, this was highly likely to be slave created sugar. You know what I mean? So that's. I would say that's even less of a weird flex and more of a brutal one.
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Ben
Now, fellow ridiculous historians, as you may know, we recently returned from a just spectacular oceanfront resort, Baja Mar, over in
Noel
the Bahamas in Nassau. We know what you're thinking.
Ben
Lucky us.
Noel
Must be nice. Well, it was nice. You're not wrong. This was a real special experience for all three of us. Max was there too.
Ben
Yeah, Baja Mar, get this. Is this just stunning oceanfront resort in Nassau, Bahamas. They've got multiple hotels. It's also, you know what I thought was really cool? It's family friendly and it's adult friendly, if that makes sense.
Noel
Simultaneously, we had some phenomenal dinners. My personal favorite was at Marcus. Had a incredible dry aged rib eye there and these truffle whipped potatoes that were to die for.
Ben
Yeah, and there are water parks. The animal experiences are awesome.
Noel
I jumped off a false cliff.
Ben
So did Max. You can go to the Rosewood Hotel, the sls, and of course where we stayed, the stylishly modern Grand Hyatt. So don't delay. Plan your own getaway@bajamar.com did you know
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Noel
I will say this, there's something I wanted to add a little later. In the 1600s, there's actually a cookbook from a royal cook in the in the court named Robert May. And he describes even taking this to the next level where there would be, for example, a stag made of sugar, full size, that bleeds wine when an arrow is removed from it. That's like sticking in there.
Jack
There we go.
Noel
Or you've got like a castle that actually fires live artillery rounds made of sugar. Or you have something like a giant pie made of sugar that's filled with live birds that then fly out when they crack open the sugary crust.
Ben
So does that take it?
Jack
Oh, yes.
Ben
Does that take it up to a six or seven?
Noel
Can I have a point back Please, gentlemen. Thank you.
Jack
Oh, yeah. No, no, no. The cannon firing sugar out. That's an eight. That's an eight for sure.
Ben
Oh, yeah.
Jack
Yes.
Miles
Lest we start to think we're too superior to history again, guys, I did this in the last episode. I have to take it back to the two and three year old birthday parties that I frequent for just my research, personal fun on the weekends. But no, I have a three year old son.
Jack
You do it to dunk on your son, right? I went to so many parties this weekend. How many did you go to?
Miles
He's not invited. But I was at a birthday party very recently where they had a probably, you know, it was probably the size of. It was bigger than any dollhouse I've ever seen. It was a cake that was, you know, taller than two people standing on each other's shoulders that was in the shape of like a castle. Also, it was a Disney castle, obviously. And I overheard one of the moms say, oh, get my daughter out of here. I don't want her to see that cake. Because she didn't want the competition for like her daughter's birthday. I was like, oh, that's so funny.
Jack
Where something is such a flex that you have to shield people's eyes. Yeah, right, because it could forever ruin them.
Noel
Exactly.
Jack
I can't let them think this is normal. I can't let them think this is normal.
Miles
So we're still creating subtleties. They're just a giant rich kid birthday party cakes, I guess.
Ben
Yeah, that's the new one. That's the new subtlety. Okay, so we've got a pretty good track record of strange flexes now, but we've been building up to an especially weird flex that's gonna come from you, Miles. So everybody listening. If this was a somewhat uninteresting or lackluster show for so far then having,
Noel
then why are you still listening?
Ben
First of all, because you believe in us and you believe in Miles. And more importantly, Miles. No pressure, but literally everything is riding on you, my friend.
Jack
Yeah, well, I mean, when we were discussing doing this, I had a few ideas, but I wanted to really bring it into the history thing. Because recently when I was in England, I went to the history museum there and saw all the stolen history that is in there. And my first idea was like, man, the English really know how to flex on the rest of the world. Because they're like, I'll take your history and I'll keep it here and you can ask for it back, but it doesn't mean I'm giving It back. And then as I looked into it more, I was like, okay, so this, obviously it's a theme with how gigantic the British Empire was at one time. But then I found out that in Victorian England, one of the great flexes, if you were a person of means, was to. Obviously Egyptomania was. Was huge in England, especially after the Napoleonic wars and things like that. But then it turned into a thing where going to watch somebody just fully desecrate a mummy's body. Mummy unwrappings were a huge flex if you had the money to go to a live mummy unwrapping. Now what is a mummy unwrapping? Well, let me tell you, that was my question. Yes, Thomas Pettigrew, he was, you know, he was like this surgeon and, And a man of science. But then eventually the Egyptian bug, he got bit by the Egypt bug and started thinking like, man, you know, like, what's. Like what's really going on under all those wraps? And he decided, yes, here we go. This is something I can do. I can combine many things, science. I can combine people's just obsession with the. The darkness of Egypt or just the sort of otherness of Egypt and get them and sell some tickets at the same time. So he wasn't the first person to unroll a mummy in front of an audience, but he was. He was the guy who kind of mainstreamed it as being like a performance where people would buy tickets to go and just watch this thing happen live and in person.
Noel
Miles. And can I stop you real quick? Did he do it like, where he just like on Scooby Doo, where he just pulls the one string and then the mummy just spins out like a car with cartoon sound effect. And there's actually almost.
Jack
What's funny is there was someone in France who was doing something similar too, which is a little more performative than just, you know, sort of taking the bandages off. In France, there were moments where they would take a. A mummy that was going to be de mummified and put it, like, on this, you know, machine essentially, that made it look like the corpse was dancing as the bandages were just ripped off the body.
Noel
Yikes.
Jack
And people were like, y, that's cool. Making it a real kind of freaky performance. But in England, you know, England is more about, as we said, the subtleties. So there they. They took it a little more seriously, a little more dramatic by, you know, saying really, you know, just overly elaborate monologues while then, you know, cutting off all of the bandages to demonify it. When these mummy I guess D wrappings, as they call them, were happening. The man behind it, Thomas Pettigrew, had a few kind of dark aims with doing this. One of the theories that people have suggested that he was really also, like, through de. Mummifying these people, was trying to prove that ancient Egyptians were actually Caucasian and not African origin by using, like, physiognomy to, like, measure the cranium and things like that.
Ben
A phrenologist. Oh, great.
Jack
Yeah. Oh, yeah, sorry, phrenology, Right. Or just to basically be like, like, yeah, this is. This is my fake science to prove that the. This old, ancient empire was actually, in fact, a Caucasian one. Right. But again, found this way of. Everybody would come by, watch the mummy get D wrapped, and it was just like the biggest thing. And it got so big that even there's even a secondary flex to the D wrappings.
Miles
What?
Jack
There was the Duke of Hamilton at the time, in 1852, when one of his dying wishes was to have Pettigrew actually mummify him and put him in an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus. And he got his wish in 1852. So now we actually. We've gone from people just being like, let's just disrespect this ancient body, right? To now let me kick this ancient body out of the sarcophagus. Now let me appropriate mummify me and put me in the sarcophagus. And that's what happened.
Miles
And then he did a mummy unwrapping and scared. Everybody was like, that's me.
Jack
No, I'm good. I'm good. Anyway, thanks for everybody coming to my birthday.
Ben
Seriously. That's like Bonnaroo costume level appropriation. It's beyond Bonnaroo.
Noel
I think Coachella.
Jack
Oh, yeah.
Ben
Oh, wait, Coachella. That's the one.
Jack
Oh, yeah, yeah. He be like. I mean, he acquired a. Like an actual legitimate ancient sarcophagus and of like, a princess who wasn't named but was like, that's. That will be my final vessel to rest in.
Noel
I say more power to him. Go ahead and mummify yourself. That's sort of like a. Like a different version of, like, go f yourself.
Ben
Yeah, but get your own vehicle.
Noel
Absolutely. You make. Build your own sarcophagi guy.
Jack
Just do it. Oh, yeah. And yeah, what's so funny is, like, he's actually. Because he's mummified in a sarcophagus, he actually made it into the encyclopedia of mummies.
iHeartRadio Announcer
Oh, wow.
Jack
Yeah. Which to me feels like a little bit of a, you know, sort of backdoor entry to getting into college. Reminds me of Operation Varsity Blues a little bit. Like, did you earn it really? Or any person of means who. Who is able to buy their own sarcophagus and then flex on people like that.
Miles
People are always trying to buy their way into the encyclopedia.
Jack
Mummies. Yeah, exactly. I mean it was a big problem, especially in the 80s.
Ben
I'm going to give that one. At first I was like, man, this is clearly 8 or a 9. But making appropriating someone in death for your own death, that knocks it to a 10 to me, the hubris alone,
Noel
not to mention that it is. Tickets are being sold. It's taking. It's completely commodifying and appropriating some a very sacred ritual in someone's culture that you clearly do not understand or care to understand. You're just using it for the amusement of the public. And so then you're also playing into stereotypes. Everything bad about this. So I think we should have two scales. I think we should have the weird flex scale and the cruelty scale.
Ben
We have been going back and forth.
George Taveras
Yeah, this is George Severis and Sam Taggart from Stradio Lab. Okay, picture your apartment after a Saturday workout. The gym bag, the couch, maybe even the car. Mi amor. It's a full novella of odors and not the glamorous kind.
Sam Taggart
That's where Febreze comes in. Boost, spray, spritz, plug or clip. It doesn't just mask odors, it fights them. Honey.
George Taveras
Want long lasting scent you can control? Try Febreze Plug scent booster today. With the adjustable intensity dial, you can control the scent to match your mood. Plus, thanks to its Fade Defy technology, your home stays first day fresh for up to 50 days.
Sam Taggart
Need a quick car rescue? Clip a Febreze car vent clip and map your ride to freshness. And don't forget the fabric refresher. While you can't cram that cushion in the washer, you can top off every pillow fluff with a spritz of fabric refresher.
George Taveras
Because home should smell like you. Fabulous. Fresh. Unforgettable.
Sam Taggart
Febreze is a proud sponsor of the Elton John Impact Awards, honoring those who have helped shape a more inclusive and compassionate world with their artistry, advocacy and unwavering commitment to equality.
George Taveras
You won't want to miss the Elton John Impact awards podcast, available June 1 on the iHeartRadio app and everywhere podcasts are heard.
Ben
Now, fellow ridiculous historians, as you may know, we recently returned from a just spectacular oceanfront resort, Baja Mar, over in
Noel
the Bahamas in Nassau. We Know what you're thinking.
Ben
Lucky us.
Noel
Must be nice. Well, it was nice. You're not wrong. This was a real special experience for all three of us. Max was there too.
Ben
Yeah. Baja Mar. Get this. Is this just stunning Oceanfront resort in Nassau, Bahamas. They've got multiple hotels. It's also, you know what I thought was really cool? It's family friendly and it's adult friendly, if that makes sense.
Noel
Simultaneously, we had some phenomenal dinners. My personal favorite was at Marcus. Had an incredible dry aged ribeye there and these truffle whipped potatoes that were to die for.
Ben
Yeah, and there are water parks. The animal experiences are awesome.
Noel
I jumped off a false cliff.
Ben
So did Max. You can go to the Rosewood Hotel, the sls, and of course where we stayed, the stylishly modern Grand Hyatt. So don't delay. Plan your own getaway@bajamar.com.
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Ben
well, I will say on the upside, one good thing about this horrifically tragic story is that in comparison, it makes the four of us look pretty good. Because we haven't done that. It's true yet.
Jack
Oh yeah. No, nothing but I mean, I'm not gonna lie, I'm. Every night when I envision my future, it's having so much wealth that I could Also, buy a mummy and just unwrap it.
Amazon Health AI Announcer
Right.
Jack
I'm gonna be honest.
Miles
I was gonna say, okay, so, yes, this is what we had instead of horror. Mov. But also, this is something I could totally see working as a flex in the modern world. Like, if I was at a party and someone was doing that, I'd be like, that makes sense. And I'm impressed. If they were, like, defiling a historic object, it's like, I don't know. It's still. It's still just wildly insane enough.
Jack
It's weird.
Miles
We also have unboxing videos.
Jack
Yeah,
iHeartRadio Announcer
yeah.
Jack
But I guess back then, right, they didn't have the same sort of values. Were like, we should actually preserve history. Like, oh, y' all got to see what I just stole from Egypt. Real quick. Let's watch me unwrap this mummy. Whereas now it would be like, because you're just merely destroying something of such value. It's like. It's like, look at this vase from the Ming dynasty.
Ben
Yeah.
Jack
I'm about to just toss off the freeway off ramp.
Miles
Right?
Jack
That would be pretty cool.
Miles
I could see it at a, like, Hollywood party of some, like, CA agent or something like that. Somebody who's cartoonishly a terrible person.
Jack
I'm pretty sure, like, when they wanted to open. Opened that mummy, that sarcophagus, like, last year, and people were like, what's the mummy? What's the water in that sarcophagus? And people are like, I want to drink the mummy water.
Miles
Yeah, mummy water.
Ben
I remember that.
Noel
I'm pretty sure Nick Cage had a mummy at one point, so that's probably available, because I think he. I think there's, like, a serious Nick Cage garage sale going on.
Ben
He had a T. Rex skull.
Noel
He had a T. Rex, so surely he had a mummy as well. I'm just conjecturing here, but I'd like to believe that he did.
Ben
Snapchat money.
Noel
He's a. He's a. He's an odd character. Geez, guys, this was a lot less fun than I thought it was going to be. And that is not on you. That is just on history itself.
Jack
Because history. Yeah, I had a good time. I mean, yeah, yeah, no, no, I
Noel
had a great time. I had a great time. But these stories were. Most of them were kind of bummers. I would say the. The least bummery one was Ben's decorative hobo story. And even that was pretty twisted.
Ben
Ornamental Hermit.
Noel
I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Decorative hobo versus Ornamental Hermit.
Ben
You can't try to, like, like, appropriate. What happened?
Noel
Hey, don't you accuse your own phrase of appropriation, sir. I would never. I would never.
Jack
It all depends on what your flavor is of flex. I mean, Jack's was about animal cruelty.
Miles
Yeah. Flexing on the animals.
Jack
Yeah. Subtleties was about slavery. Y. The mine was about colonialism, empire, and the desecration of people's cultures.
Miles
Yeah.
Ben
Yeah.
Jack
And then the other one was about taking advantage of the destiny.
Miles
That's right. Your bum, son.
Noel
Yeah.
Jack
And I guess now. I guess nowadays the flexes are better because now we're just saying, like. Yeah, I actually, like, I went to high school with Chris Rock's kid and I beat him in basketball, so there's that. All right, but.
Ben
Okay, I'm gonna tell people that's a true story about you now. Are you cool with that? Just back me up if it comes up in conversation.
Jack
Oh, yeah. It's one of the many lies I do, so don't worry.
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Noel
Well, despite. Despite being kind of depressed, I'm also really happy we got to do this. And I did, all things considered, have a really good time having you guys on this show. And maybe we can make this a regular thing. I think there's obviously way more historical, weird flexes that we can dig into and do this again. Thank you guys so much for coming on.
Jack
I'm going to do some. I got more in my back pocket right now.
Ben
Let's do it. Yeah. I'm going to actually take it a step further, and I'm going to try to make some new weird, historical flexes for the future that will hopefully not be as. As terrible as these four turned out to be. But, guys, I know everybody listening is saying, well, we enjoyed the hell out of hanging out with Jack and Miles. Where can they find you before you come back on this show?
Miles
You guys can find us at the Daily Zeitgeist. It's a podcast that we do, as the name would suggest, daily, every weekday, Monday through Friday. It's an hour rundown of. Of just everything that's happened in the Zeitgeist. Pop culture news. Those are kind of the two big ones.
Jack
Politics, politics, politics.
Miles
You know, all of. All of it. Yeah. And you can find me on Twitter @jackobrian.
Jack
Oh, you can find me on Twitter and Instagram. Ylesofgray G R A Y.
Ben
And I wanna give you guys a shout out, too, to make sure that all our listeners know this. You heard correct, folks. That's a daily podcast. Casey, Noel, and I do this about two times a week. So I I am beyond impressed that you guys not only did your regular show but also came here to do a show with us. So thank you. That's amazing.
Jack
Our pleasure.
Miles
We're big fans. We're thrilled to do it.
Jack
Yeah. And it's, you know, our show isn't as thorough as yours is. Again, we like to consider our show a second rate podcast.
Miles
Second rate podcast.
Jack
Just do it a lot, that's all.
Ben
So check out the guys on Instagram and Twitter if you want a closer look at the second best garden gnome collection in East Los Angeles. That's a good callback if you listen to both episodes, which you should. In the meantime, we're calling it a day. We wanna give a very late thanks and shout out to our super producer, Casey Pegram. Woo hoo.
Noel
We'd like to thank Alex Williams who composed our theme, Gabe Luzier who helps us out with research and I'm just Ms. Christopher. I'm going to give him another shout out. Christopher Oiotes. Jonathan Strickland, the Quizzter, you Ben, I'd like to thank you for being a friend and a confidant and all the things that are in the Golden Girls theme song.
Ben
And of course, thanks again to Miles and Jack. Thanks to everyone for checking this out. Hey, you know what, folks? Tell us about your favorite weird historical flexes or even just very, very petty things committed by historical people of note.
Noel
And who knows, maybe this will be a running thing and we can include some of them in a future episode. Until then, we'll see you next time. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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What's up cousin?
Noel
I want a new phone. Have you seen any good deals?
Jack
Everyone has free phones. But when I switched to T Mobile
Noel
I got more value and so much more.
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Hosts: Ben Bowlin & Noel Brown
Guests: Jack O’Brien & Miles Gray (The Daily Zeitgeist)
Date: May 30, 2026
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts
The second part of "History’s Weirdest Flexes" delves deeper into some of history’s most jaw-dropping acts of unnecessary ostentation, privilege, and cruelty—aka “weird flexes.” Hosts Ben and Noel, joined by Jack and Miles from The Daily Zeitgeist, explore mind-boggling historical displays of wealth, power, and status, as well as their dark social implications. The tone bounces between irreverent banter and sharp social commentary, as the group dissects everything from sugary sculptures to Victorian mummy-unwrappings.
(03:09 – 04:17)
Jack: "If we touch his Mountain Dew, we are in... we will actually be in harm's way." (04:36)
(06:00 – 13:38)
Noel: "They were called subtleties. And they're not subtle at all, right?... A flex isn't meant to be subtle." (06:42)
Noel: “It was a giant sphinx that was 35ft tall... with the face akin to the mammie kind of trope.” (10:33)
(11:27 – 19:46)
Miles: “We're still creating subtleties. They're just giant rich kid birthday party cakes, I guess.” (19:39)
(20:22 – 26:38)
Jack: “He wasn't the first person to unroll a mummy... but he was the guy who kind of mainstreamed it as being like a performance.” (21:49)
Jack: “Let me kick this ancient body out... now let me appropriate, mummify me and put me in the sarcophagus.” (24:21)
(26:12 – 26:38)
Noel: "You're just using it for the amusement of the public... We should have two scales. The weird flex scale and the cruelty scale." (26:12)
(30:29 – 33:48)
Miles: “We also have unboxing videos.” (31:23)
(33:49 – 35:44)